Version Widget

A Flutter widget that displays version information with optional changelog date and link. This widget is designed to be used across multiple apps to maintain consistent version display and changelog access.

Features

• Display version information in a simple text widget
• Optionally also display the release date
• Automatic date extraction from CHANGELOG.md files
• Clickable to view the full CHANGELOG in an in-app dialogue with markdown rendering
• Customisable styling
• Fallback date support
• Custom tooltip messages
• Visual indicator for outdated version
• Network connectivity handling
• Formatted date display (DD MMM YYYY)
• Optional inline discover-and-download button when a newer release is detected

Installation

Add the package to you app's pubspec.yaml file:

dependencies:
  version_widget: ^1.0.5

Usage

Basic usage:

import 'package:version_widget/version_widget.dart';

// In your widget tree:

VersionWidget(
  version: '1.0.5',  // Required parameter
)

With CHANGELOG support:

VersionWidget(
  version: '1.0.5',
  changelogUrl: 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anusii/version_widget/main/CHANGELOG.md',
  showDate: true,
  defaultDate: '20240101',
)

With custom tooltip messages:

VersionWidget(
  version: '1.0.5',  // Required parameter
  changelogUrl: 'https://github.com/anusii/version_widget/raw/main/CHANGELOG.md',
  isLatestTooltip: 'Your app is up to date! Enjoy the latest features.',
  notLatestTooltip: 'Version $_latestVersion is available with new features!',
)

With the discover-and-download button enabled. When the widget detects a newer release in the CHANGELOG it renders a small button to the right of the version label. Tapping the button opens downloadUrl in the default external handler (typically the system browser or platform installer).

VersionWidget(
  version: '1.0.5',
  changelogUrl: 'https://github.com/anusii/version_widget/raw/main/CHANGELOG.md',
  showUpdateButton: true,
  downloadUrl: 'https://example.com/downloads/myapp-latest.exe',
)

Hide the version number text but keep the update button visible (useful when only the upgrade affordance is desired):

VersionWidget(
  version: '1.0.5',
  changelogUrl: 'https://github.com/anusii/version_widget/raw/main/CHANGELOG.md',
  showVersion: false,
  showUpdateButton: true,
  downloadUrl: 'https://example.com/downloads/myapp-latest.exe',
)

Version Status Indicators

• Grey text: Version is being checked
• Blue text: Version is up to date
• Red bold text: Newer version is available
• No date shown: Internet connection unavailable

CHANGELOG.md Format

The widget expects the CHANGELOG.md file to have dates in the following format. The important part is [1.0.5 20250101 and the first such text found is interpreted as the latest version and timestamp. This allows, for example, the string to be [1.0.5 20250514 fred] as a common format to attribute changes to users.

## [1.0.5 20250101]
- Initial release

The widget will automatically find the correct release date for the current version by matching against all version entries in the changelog.

Properties

• version (required): The version string to display. Must be provided.
• changelogUrl (optional): URL to the CHANGELOG.md file
• showVersion (optional): Whether to show the version number text (defaults to true). When false the text is hidden but the changelog is still consulted so the optional update button can still appear.
• showDate (optional): Whether to show the release date (defaults to true)
• defaultDate (optional): Default date to show if changelog cannot be fetched (format: YYYYMMDD)
• isLatestTooltip (optional): Custom message to show when version is latest
• notLatestTooltip (optional): Custom message to show when newer version is available
• showUpdateButton (optional): Whether to show the discover-and-download button when a newer version is detected (defaults to false). The button is only rendered when this flag is enabled, a newer version is found and downloadUrl is provided.
• downloadUrl (optional): URL launched when the update button is tapped. Typically points at an installer (.exe, .apk, .dmg) or a release page. Required for the update button to be rendered.
• updateButtonLabel (optional): Text label shown next to the icon on the update button (defaults to Update).

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.